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Beautiful, Good, Important and Special Cultural Heritage, Archaeology, Tourism and the Miniature in the Holy Land

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Beautiful, Good, Important and Special Cultural Heritage, Archaeology, Tourism and the Miniature in the Holy Land Beautiful, Good, Important and Special Cultural Heritage, Archaeology, Tourism and the Miniature in the Holy Land Morag M. Kersel and Yorke M. Rowan Abstract Through an examination of representations of cultural heritage in miniature this paper tackles the recurrent question of how are culture, a nation, and the past presented to the public. Exploring how this is achieved at the microcosm of Mini Israel, an outdoor park mid- way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv where you can “see it all small” (Shapira 2003: 1), we con- clude that Mini Israel offers visitors (foreign or local) what they want; an unthreatening version of the Holy Land, where differences in ethnicities, religions, and political groups are abridged in a pristine environment free from conflict and strife. At Mini Israel displays include the commercial, the contemporary, and the ancient, depicting what is “beautiful, good, important, and special” (Shapira 2003: 2). We argue that the selection of sites in miniature is a reflection of tourism trends, financial motives, and visitor preference, rather than a reflection of facts on the ground. Resumen Mediante un análisis de representaciones del patrimonio cultural en miniatura, este artículo aborda la pregunta recurrente de cómo una cultura, una nación y el pasado se pre- sentan al público. Investigando cómo se logra esto en el microcosmo de Mini Israel, un parque al aire libre a mitad de camino entre Jerusalén y Tel Aviv donde se puede “ver todo pequeño” (Shapira 2003: 1), llegamos a la conclusión de que Mini Israel ofrece a los visitantes (extranjeros o locales) lo que ellos desean: una versión inofensiva de la Tierra Santa, donde las diferencias étnicas, religiosas y políticas están reducidas en un entorno inmaculado libre de conflictos y disputas. En Mini Israel las muestras abarcan lo comercial, lo contemporáneo y lo antiguo, representando lo que es “hermoso, bueno, importante y especial” (Shapira 2003: 2). Sostenemos que la elección de los sitios en miniatura es un reflejo de las tendencias del turismo, los motivos económicos y la preferencia de los visitantes, y no un reflejo de los hechos sobre el terreno. Résumé À travers un examen des représentations d’héritage culturel dans le contexte d’un site miniature, cet essai pose la question récurrente de comment sont représentés une culture, une nation, et le passé au grand public. En explorant ces représentations dans le contexte microcosmique de Mini Israël, un parc d’attractions à mi-chemin entre Jérusalem et Tel Aviv où les visiteurs peuvent tout voir «en miniature» (Shapira 2003: 1), nous concluons que Mini Israël offre aux visiteurs (étrangers et locaux) ce qu’ils recherchent : une description non menaçante de la Terre Sainte, où les différences ethniques, religieuses, et politiques sont minimisées dans la présentation d’un environnement dénué de conflit et de discorde. Les expo- sitions dans Mini Israël mettent en valeur à travers les univers économiques, contemporains et antiques ce qui est «beau, bon, important, et précieux» (Shapira 2003: 2). Nous soutenons que la sélection de ces sites miniatures est un miroir des tendances touristiques contemporaines, de motivations financières et de préférences du public, plutôt qu’une représentation de la réalité des faits sur le terrain. Heritage & Society, Volume 5, Issue 2, fall 2012, pp. 199–220. 199 Copyright © 2012 Left Coast Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 200 MORAG M. KERSEL AND YORKE M. ROWAN Welcome to Mini Israel the largest miniature city in the world. Mini Israel is a vision come true. We wanted to create a unique stage that will express everything beautiful, good, important and special that we have in this wonderful country of ours. We aspire to create a kind of living picture album that will reflect the reality of life in this small strip of land. [Shapira 2003:6; emphasis added]. At Mini Israel, an outdoor tourist venue midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, a sightseer is encouraged to “see it all small.” Opened in 2002, this theme park presents visitors with a curious introduction to Israel; a mi- crocosm of everything “beautiful, good, important and special” (Shapira 2003:6). Why do visitors choose to “see it all small” when a mere five min- utes away you can see the real thing? Miniature theme parks often present culture as frozen in time and space (Hoffstaeder 2008). Mini Israel cannot be accused of presenting a fixed his- torical vision of Israel because a variety of cultures and times are depicted, but notable sites are omitted from the miniaturized version. Stewart (1984) proposes that the role of these parks is to bring historical events to life. At Mini Israel, historical places are pivotal, but conflated with the contempo- rary. Through the gaze of the tourist we attempt to unpack the motives and concepts of the creators of the site. We are particularly interested in the ways the park appeals to different publics, foreign and local, religious and secular, and attempts to draw in people who prefer a miniature park to the harsh facts on the ground. We view Mini Israel as a case study in archaeological tourism, investigating which sites and landscapes are depicted and which are not. Cultural geographer David Lowenthal (2002) proposes that people crave imagined locales more than actual ones, which we would argue is the case at Mini Israel. Places and buildings represented at the miniature park shape the be- haviors and consciousness of the visitors. According to Eran Gazit, the cre- ator of the park, what sightseers should experience at Mini Israel is that which is “beautiful, good, important and special” about Israel (Oestermann 2006:124). The official imprimatur of the Ministry of Tourism in Israel at the entrance reinforces visitor understanding that miniature forms in the park represent the best of Israel. Product placement throughout the park supports the notion of what is “commercially best,” a point reinforced by Ren (2007) in his analysis of Chinese theme parks. At Mini Israel, not only is the significance of Masada emphasized, but Coca-Cola is showcased as an important product. Economics and national identity go hand in hand at Mini Israel similar to many other themed parks (see Lukas 2007). How 200 CULTURAL HERITAGE, ARCHAEOLOGY, TOURISM AND THE MINIATURE 201 should we approach a site that claims to convey all that is “beautiful, good, important and special?” More specifically, what is the allure of a microcosm of Israel, when entire elements are not depicted in miniature? Who visits and why? What factors influenced park designers on what to include and what to omit? More specifically, as archaeologists we wondered about the selection of some sites over others. The following discussion attempts to respond to these questions through an exploration of the site of Mini Israel. The Lure of the Miniature At last estimate there are approximately 50 miniature parks open to the pub- lic around the world, ranging from the hundreds of landmark buildings of “Mini Europe” in Belgium and “Madurodam” in Holland, to the oldest in original form at Bekonscot, UK (see International Association of Miniature Parks 2011). Theme and leisure parks have always been associated with the promotion of images and ideas of nations or regions. The earliest miniature parks were fashioned during the late nineteenth century coinciding with the popularity of World’s Fairs where visitors were treated to the concepts of the nation-state and notions of progress. The concept of the miniature exploded during the 1930s to 1950s (International Association of Miniature Parks 2011). Opened in 2002, Mini Israel is a member of the International Associa- tion of Miniature Parks (IAMP). The park is situated approximately halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the geographical center of the country in the Ayalon Valley, an area where for millennia, pilgrims, armies, and mer- chants have traveled on their way to and from Jerusalem. Mini Israel in- cludes more than 350 exact replica miniatures, most at 1:25 scale, built on approximately 7.5 acres of land owned by one of the originators of the park and former managing director Eran Gazit in partnership with Kibbutz (col- lective farm) Nachshon. The impetus for the creation of Mini Israel is the unique vision of Gazit, who hoped to capitalize on the phenomenon and popularity of miniature theme parks. Inspired by a visit to the miniature town of Madurodam (Netherlands), Gazit and his partner Yoni Shapira employed 17 model makers from the for- mer Soviet Union to create over 30,000 human figures amid the miniatures. The initial $20 million USD price tag was funded primarily by two large investment groups, Granite HaCarmel and Secom, with an additional 15% provided by the Israel Tourism Office and sponsors ranging from Egged (the national bus company) and Tnuva dairies to Coca-Cola (Bender 2003; Oes- termann 2006; Veeder 2003). Coinciding with the early stages of the second 201 202 MORAG M. KERSEL AND YORKE M. ROWAN Intifada (uprising) when heightened security, tensions, and fears made travel within Israel daunting, Mini Israel was among the most visited tourism sites in Israel when it first opened. In 2006, Mini Israel was seventh on the list of most popular tourist destinations in Israel, with some 406,000 paying visitors (Rosenblum 2007). This initial popularity waned in recent years, however, and it no longer appears on the top ten list compiled by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011). The most recent statistics on visitors to Mini Israel indicated that 95% of visitors to the park are Israelis (Oester- mann 2006:126). In a 2010 Jerusalem Post article on Mini Israel and tourism, visitors pro- vided a wide array of reasons why they liked the site, but were uniform in their response to the question of why they visited.
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